# Recommend me some awesome, but little known PC games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 7, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617 "2008-11-07T10:39:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/41 "2008-11-11T14:08:12Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > I’ve downloaded **Ghost Master**. It looks nice, and had me entertained for a few hauntings, but I fear that the game gets a it repetitive. Should I hang on to it, or can I expect to see more hauntings where I bind my ghosts to certain areas and up their powers until every sorority girl has run away? I’m afraid it’s been a few years since I’ve played, so I don’t remember exactly how long it lasts, but I do specifically remember finishing it fairly quickly (as in about a week of playing), because I emailed the publisher’s PR rep as soon as I was done and asked if there was a sequel in the works. It definitely gets more challenging, with more ghostly abilities at your disposal, but it’s more or less the same game each level. Have you played to the levels where you have to worry about ghostbusters stopping you? ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/42 "2008-11-12T01:27:00Z")
Ok, we have a lot to get through here. **Thief** : If you have **Thief II** then you can try [**TX2: Shadows of the Metal Age**](http://www.thief2x.com/default2.asp). A fan made expansion with 13 full missions and a complete story. A complete Thief game by itself. Also for Thief II is [**The Circle of Stone and Shadow**](http://cosas.ttlg.com/), another fan made campaign in 4 parts, the first 2 of which have been released. There is also [**The Dark Mod**](http://www.thedarkmod.com/) a total conversion of Doom 3 to a Thief type game, the first demo mission has been released. There are also a load of fan missions for all the Thief games at [**Thief - The Circle**](http://www.thief-thecircle.com/). **Ghost Master** , **Mount & Blade** , **Deus Ex** & **Invisible War** , both **S.T.A.L.K.E.R.** games, all the episodes of both series of **Sam and Max** and both episodes of **On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness** (the 2nd one having just been released), are all on Steam. Steam is also doing **AudioSurf** for $2.49 this week which might be worth a try. **NOLF** and **NOLF2** I have no problems playing these on my XP64 system. Fan missions for both can be found at [nolfgirl](http://www.nolfgirl.com/). Fan missions for **System Shock 2** [here](http://www.sshock2.com/). Fan missions for **Deus Ex** [here](http://www.deusex-machina.com/). For those of us having problems running **System Shock 2** , or **Deus Ex** help can be found [here](http://www.ttlg.com/forums/). My recommendation would be **Space Trader** , a sort of text based version of **Elite**. Originally released for [Palm OS 2](http://downloads.zdnet.co.uk/0,1000000375,39188845s,00.htm?r=4), versions are available for [Pocket PC](http://www.spacetrader.co.uk/) and [Windows](http://sourceforge.net/projects/spacetraderwin). Speaking of **Elite** there is a version with OpenGL graphics which looks amazing, [OOlite](http://oolite.org/index.shtml). Also there are OpenGL versions of **Frontier: Elite 2** and **Frontier: First Encounters** , links [here](http://www.vprnet.co.uk/trl/links.html). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/43 "2008-11-12T02:22:28Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > It ain’t easy, but i think the replay value of [Burn The Rope](http://www.mazapan.se/games/BurnTheRope.php) is pretty amazing. I dont understand the point of this one. You burn the rope and the boss dies, wheres the challenge? ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/44 "2008-11-12T02:25:53Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > I dont understand the point of this one. You burn the rope and the boss dies, wheres the challenge? Woosh! An old Simcity like game–set in ancient China. Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is a surprisingly nuanced, fun game with great music. I’d recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/45 "2008-11-12T02:51:50Z")
Can’t believe no one has mentioned Psychonauts yet. I think it is the only game [Yahtzee at The Escapist](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2-Psychonauts) ever liked (I think). ETA: He really liked Portal too. ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/46 "2008-11-12T04:34:15Z")
_Reads the above post, re-reads the OP_ Psst, **Whack-a-Mole** , Psychonauts was mentioned in the OP! ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/47 "2008-11-12T05:37:36Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Can’t believe no one has mentioned Psychonauts yet. I think it is the only game [Yahtzee at The Escapist](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/2-Psychonauts) ever liked (I think). > > ETA: He really liked Portal too. And Painkiller… and Earthbound… and Killer 7… and No More Heroes… and CoD 4. Basically he LIKED a lot of games, he even admitted Bioshock was good, he just points out flaws that the “mainstream” reviews missed, eventually then playing them to excess to be funny. I Like Galactic Civilizations II. It’s hardly unheard of, but it’s definitely low on the radar, if you like 4x games it’s at least worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/48 "2008-11-12T06:02:03Z")
> [@Achren](#): > > _Reads the above post, re-reads the OP_ > Psst, **Whack-a-Mole** , Psychonauts was mentioned in the OP! I’d like to take Reading Comprehension for $100 Alex! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617/49 "2008-11-12T12:41:41Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > I’m afraid it’s been a few years since I’ve played, so I don’t remember exactly how long it lasts, but I do specifically remember finishing it fairly quickly (as in about a week of playing), because I emailed the publisher’s PR rep as soon as I was done and asked if there was a sequel in the works. It definitely gets more challenging, with more ghostly abilities at your disposal, but it’s more or less the same game each level. Have you played to the levels where you have to worry about ghostbusters stopping you? You are right, it does get better. I’m now in a mission where I need to have some cultist find a book and use it. These are the more interesting kind of missions. At first I thought the only point of the missions were in scaring the humans, but it gets more challenging when you must scare them to get powers to reveal some hidden feature, but not so much so that they start running away. I quite enjoy the game now. I also didn’t know that there were so many fan made mods for Thief II. Sadly I can’t run the game any more (and anyway, the graphics are very dated now), otherwise I would be very interested in those. Same thing for SS2. I tried all solutions that the Internet has thrown at me, but for some reason, I can’t get it to work (and I’m not usually that dense on a Windows platform, so I’m pretty sure it’s not me). Still, all this talk about Thief made me decide to get out Thief III. The Cradle is waiting for me again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-awesome-but-little-known-pc-games/471617.md?page=2)